17 March 2025, 19:45 | Updated: 17 March 2025, 19:47
IKEA store in Vilnius, Lithuania
IKEA store in Vilnius, Lithuania. Picture: Alamy
By Josef Al Shemary
Lithuanian authorities have accused Russian military intelligence of being behind an arson attack at an Ikea store in the Lithuanian capital last year.
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The attack is being treated as an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors said they uncovered a chain of command more than 20 layers deep, through which Kremlin spies bribed a teen with a BMW to firebomb the IKEA store in Vilnius.
They accused the Russian intelligence service of targeting the store because IKEA’s logo uses the same colours as the Ukraine flag.
The Lithuanian prosecutor’s office said the suspect was a minor at the time and acted "in the interests of the military structures and security services of the Russian Federation".
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Lithuania is a Nato member and has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. It has frequently warned of Russian-linked sabotage attempts.
Warsaw, Mazovian Province, Poland. 12th May, 2024. The burning waste dump in the southern part of Warsaw. This is the second accident of the day after the massive fire of the Marywilska 44 shopping center.
Warsaw, Mazovian Province, Poland. 12th May, 2024. The burning waste dump in the southern part of Warsaw. This is the second accident of the day after the massive fire of the Marywilska 44 shopping center. Picture: Alamy
No one died in the firebombing, and the fire was contained quickly, but the prosecutor Arturas Urbelis told reporters: “We regard this act as an act of terrorism with serious consequences.”
“Ikea’s colours are the same as Ukraine’s flag – this has strong symbolic meaning,” Urbelis added.
The attack has been linked to another arson attack on a shopping centre in neighbouring Poland three days later, which destroyed 1,400 commercial units in the capital, Warsaw.
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Black smoke seen in the sky above the burning Marywilska 44 shopping center in Warsaw.
Black smoke seen in the sky above the burning Marywilska 44 shopping center in Warsaw. Picture: Alamy
“During a secret meeting in Warsaw, he and another person agreed to set fire to and blow up shopping centres in Lithuania and Latvia for a reward of €10,000 (nearly $11,000),” the office said in a statement.
“More than one supermarket has been set on fire, and not just supermarkets,” Urbelis said, commenting on the arson attack in Poland.
“It is obvious that the persons we have identified, the perpetrators and the intermediaries, are also linked to the criminal acts committed in Poland,” he added.
Prosecutors said the suspects were offered a reward of 10,000 euros to carry out the attacks. The reward also included a BMW, the statement said.
They alleged that the suspects might not have known exactly who they were working for, as investigators found a chain of more than 20 intermediaries, which was traced back to Russian intelligence.
“The chain includes the organisers, then more organisers for certain goals, then more intermediaries, all down to the perpetrators. It is a multi-stage, very complex system,” Mr Urbelis told reporters.
"These terrorist acts were aimed at severely intimidating the society of both countries, illegally forcing the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union and other states to reduce or terminate their support for the Republic of Ukraine, as well as destabilising the most important political, economic and social structures of the state," it said.
Poland and the Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - are among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in its efforts to repel Russia's full-scale invasion.
Russia denies the allegations of carrying out acts of sabotage, claiming the West is blaming Moscow for every incident to stoke a hostile sentiment towards the country.